Participated · Equity · Apr 2024

KohortPay builds an in-checkout referral system that issues a shareable promo code to shoppers at the point of purchase; the code can be used by friends within seven days to unlock discounts and increase the buyer's reward. When a referred friend buys, the merchant reimburses the original buyer the agreed promotion directly to their bank card. The solution integrates on merchant sites in about three minutes and charges a fixed fee per buyer acquired plus a commission on the basket; merchants only pay if the solution generates customers. KohortPay targets large retailers and digital-native vertical brands and claims customer acquisition costs up to two times lower than campaigns on Google or Meta. Founded in early 2022 and described as a French ('tricolore') startup, it is led by co-founders Thomas Andrews and Martin Souriau. Short-term commercial objectives include signing around twenty contracts by June 2024; the company recently completed a €1.2M fundraising that includes part debt from Bpifrance.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2023

Banxware is a Berlin-based fintech founded in 2020 that provides embedded lending solutions enabling platform-based businesses, fintechs and banks to offer loans to SME customers. The company powers financing on roughly 30 platforms in Germany and the Netherlands and counts partners such as Worldline (Payone), JustEat Takeaway (Lieferando), Qonto, SumUp and Agicap. Banxware employs more than 50 people and targets the underserved long-tail SME market by delivering on-demand financing where businesses manage their operations. The startup recently raised an equity round exceeding €15 million, which will be used to expand coverage into other European markets and to launch additional products addressing more customer segments. The round also creates potential for a strategic partnership with UniCredit and HypoVereinsbank to expand SME lending in Germany and abroad. Existing investors including 13books Capital, VR Ventures, D4 Ventures and Force over Mass increased their commitment in the round. Banxware, founded in 2020 and based in Berlin, operates a lending-as-a-service platform that enables marketplaces and aggregators to offer loans to their customers. The company delivers working capital to small and medium businesses by providing revenue-based financing with repayments tied to customer revenues and risk-based pricing. Current loan sizes range from €3,000 ($3,400) to €50,000 ($57,000), with plans to offer loans up to €200,000 ($267,000) as clients grow. Banxware integrates directly with a German savings bank to deliver financing and works with partners such as Penta, Takeaway.com, and Payone. Management cites improved regulation (PSD2) and real-time credit scoring as tailwinds for customer acquisition. The startup plans to expand its product suite, grow internationally across Europe, and increase headcount to around 70 employees by year-end. To date the company has raised $20 million in total funding. Banxware provides embedded finance primarily as instant loans for SMEs through white-label APIs and partnerships with marketplaces, payments providers and other platforms. Its core product is an instant lending tool that includes AML/KYC compliance and a scoring engine analyzing historic platform data and third-party sources to enable loan decisions and payouts in less than 15 minutes. The company acts as a link between banks (lenders), digital platforms and merchants, enabling banks to reach SME customers while platforms can upsell financial products. Banxware works with both balance-sheet lenders and lending vehicles on whose behalf it executes loan decisions; merchants repay via platforms that withhold a percentage of future payouts. The startup launched in December and plans to develop additional embedded financial services, including card-based products, expand its team and pursue international expansion. It currently generates revenue by charging a one-time fee for each loan processed and a one-off customization fee.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2023

Founded in 2022 by Annika von Mutius and Larissa Leitner, Empion develops AI-driven tools to automate headhunting and deliver intelligent candidate matching. The founders say the use of AI in recruiting is nascent but already delivers significant efficiency and quality gains. Empion positions its product as a way to fundamentally change recruiting by enabling intelligent matching at scale. The company has attracted venture and angel interest, which the founders cite as validation of market fit. Financially, Empion raised an initial €2.4 million in summer 2022 and received a further €6 million investment more recently, according to company disclosures. Its team and backers portray the product as well aligned to current labor-market needs amid scarce skilled-workers supply. Empion is a Berlin HR startup building an AI-driven platform to automate headhunting and incorporate values and corporate culture into recruiting. The company was founded by Annika von Mutius and Larissa Leitner; it has existed since December and its product has been live since February. The platform currently lists around 350 companies. Investors including VR Ventures, Basinghall Partners and angel investors Robin Behlau, Constanze Buchheim and Emma Tracey have invested €2.4 million to date. Founders say they will continue to significantly develop the technology, prepare it for scaling, grow the team and build the Empion brand. They identify recruiting and assembling a strong team as their biggest ongoing challenge and use their own Empion method in hiring.

Led · Series A · Oct 2023

Orus provides technology-driven, industry-specific insurance for SMBs, using proprietary algorithms and over 300 data points to instantly assess risk and personalise coverage. The platform underwrites complex products such as decennial liability and business owner protection insurance while keeping onboarding under five minutes and claims typically settled in days. Orus emphasises strong claims management, loss-ratio monitoring, fraud detection, and hands-on operational support. The company has grown revenue 10x in the 18 months since its Series A and now protects over 30,000 businesses across Europe. Orus is launching a broker platform to let intermediaries quote, customise, and manage its digital-first products, and is expanding internationally, with Spain as the first market and additional European entries planned from 2026 onward. Orus builds insurance products tailored to small and medium businesses, originally starting with a product for restaurant owners and expanding to other industries. Its current product suite includes general liability, business owners’ policy, workers’ compensation, health insurance and soon decennial insurance. The company targets freelancers, retailers and other long-tail small businesses as a one-stop shop for business insurance. Orus has grown its customer base to 5,000 clients and currently employs 25 people, with plans to double its workforce over the next year. The startup aims to expand product breadth and upsell existing customers to increase lifetime value and share of wallet. Recent fundraising will support product and distribution expansion focused on small-company insurance needs. Orus builds tailor-made insurance products for professionals and optimizes the subscription process to deliver competitive rates in real time. The company partners with insurers such as Wakam and focuses on customer service via its own back-office, bespoke internal tools and automation to save agents time across subscription, contract life, renewals and claims. Its first offering, co-developed with Wakam, targets restaurant owners and enables online purchase in under five minutes with core guarantees and optional coverages. Orus plans to use new funding to double headcount by year-end, accelerate commercial development and launch new products. The team was launched in May 2021 by Côme Dartiguenave, Tom Le Bras and Samuel Rossille, and includes Amin Toussi, who joined as Head of Insurance in March 2022.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2023

ContractHero is a Berlin-based B2B SaaS company, founded in 2020, that moves contracts out of Google Drive or SharePoint into a smart contract management platform. Its software automatically analyses contracts and extracts key information, claiming to accelerate contract digitisation by more than 85%. The platform is aimed at SMEs and is designed to enhance contract negotiation, mitigate legal and compliance risks, identify opportunities for financial optimisation, improve the accuracy of cash flow forecasts, and support financial audits. ContractHero counts Eurowings, ZDF, Mercedes Benz Leasing, Dorint Hotels and Miles Mobility among its clients. To beef up its tech and sales teams and expand the platform, the company has completed a Seed financing round. The round totaled €2.15 million.